The Price of Kindness
by Xoe-Indigo
Summary: Returning names to Youkai is becoming a normal occurrence for Natsume, but is it more dangerous than he thinks? *I am continuing this story I'm sorry for the wait but I will finish it*
1. Chapter 1

**This story will probably have 4, maybe 5 chapters at the most.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Natsume Yuujinchou**.

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><p>Sneakers pounded on hard packed earth. A flash of blond and a streak of black following close behind. Heavy breathing could be heard. The Ayakashi giving chase this time was an unusually strong one … but this is more or less a normal day, after all Natsume is used to being chased.<p>

This Youkai's malicious presence burned uneasiness through Natsume. It was very persistent too, after running almost non-stop for what seemed like forever it hadn't slowed, Natsume was beginning to though, being extremely exhausted from returning two names today.

_Maybe I should try to find Sensei…_

"Natsume! Natsume Reiko! I'll kill you!" The black youkai rumbled close behind.

Visibly shuddering his speed picked up but too late as a gnarled hand snatched Natsume up, squeezing him around the waist, till the boy could hear his ribs creaking.

"Augh!"

The malice, heavy in the air was enough by itself to steal the boy's breath not to mention the added pressure.

_Is this one of those strong youkai Sensei mentioned? _Natsume wondered dizzily.

"Give it back! You stole it! Reiko!" The best roared.

Natsume slumped, nearly passing out, the roar was deafening. The black youkai's grip tightened, it's twisted face swam in Natsume's vision.

A second roar split through the woods, this one much more familiar and reassuring. Madara crashed through the trees, snarling fearsomely. His eyes quickly spotted the boy in the other youkai's grasp.

"Hands off my property!"

The black youkai smirked-

"This?" He questioned, gesturing to a half conscious Natsume.

A threatening growl rang out.

"Not till she gives back what she stole!" The youkai snarled.

He then shook Natsume roughly but the only response he got was the boy's head lolling back.

"Get up! Return it to me now! You witch!"

Madara lept into action, taking advantage of the distraction- razor sharp teeth bit down on the large, shadow-like youkai, eliciting a scream. Still he kept a firm grip on the half conscious Natsume, attempting to swat the great white beast away.

"Mmph!"

The strike hit Madara in the side of the head and his eyes widened momentarily, before biting down harder and raking his claws near the youkai's twisted face.

"Natsume?" He growled.

There was no answer and no time to check on the boy as the black youkai lunged forward yet again.

It was stronger than usual, even Madara was having a bit of difficulty but finally he was able to pin it with a few bursts of power.

"Natsume? Natsume wake up!"

Natsume shifted uncomfortably, he was feeling very drained.

_I have to return his name…_

Moving uncharacteristically slow Natsume reached into his bag and withdrew a green book filled with yellowing paper. With the book of friends in hand Natsume whispered the words needed to reveal the name he desired, then took the paper into his mouth, clapped his hands together and blew out slowly.

"Kurai, I return your name."

The memories crashed into his mind more violently than ever before. Sad, violent years, that ravaged through his mind… till Reiko appeared.

She was standing in front of him, hip cocked in her confidence- "Yes, it's so much easier to fight and chase everyone away, isn't it? I get it… but if you fight me maybe I could keep everyone away for you, or you could eat me, whatever you like."

The fight was long and hard, one Kurai didn't win but at the end Reiko did look impressed. Maybe it was for the best, he felt alone enough anyway, he would be Reiko's servant and she would need him… but as time went on she never called, not even once. Anger gave way to evil energy, which built up till it consumed Kurai.

Natsume's eyes fluttered open. Madara's large white face leaning over him was the first sight to greet him, as well as Kurai flying off quickly, without a word.

"Sen-Sei?"

"Hm?" Madara hummed.

"I feel a bit strange… you're face… is all funny looking…"

It really was strange, Nyanko Sensei's face was blurring in and out sickeningly.

"Ugh" Natsume clutched his stomach weakly.

This was more than his usual exhaustion.

Madara's voice sounded through his haze, deep, gravelly and slightly worried but never-the-less, indecipherable.

The blurred world around Natsume began to fade to black and no amount of blinking helped. Hazily he noted a dull pain in his head as it hit the ground. Touko and Shigeru flashed through his mind before the darkness took over completely.

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><p><strong>This is my first fanfiction sorry if it's a bit awkward I'm used to writing in first person but it just didn't seem right for this story. By the way Kurai means dark in Japanese (I know not very creative, sorry). Anyway Please review, constructive criticism is great too!<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for all the reviews, alerts and favorites. I didn't think I'd write the next chapter this soon but all the alerts and such are amazing incentive! I Tried to be more detailed this chapter, its not as action oriented as the last but I hope you all still enjoy it. :)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Natsume Yuujinchou**

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><p><span>Chapter 2<span>

It was quiet in the Fujiwara home. Touko was busy in the kitchen but the clanging of dishes alerted her husband to her state of mind. He was worried too. They found Takashi collapsed in his room three days earlier. It wasn't out of the ordinary; in fact it happened frightfully often, Takashi seemed to have either a weak immune system or some very bad luck, maybe a mixture of both. However the boy hadn't woken up in the three days since they found him unconscious. He was burning up with a high fever but had hardly twitched an eyelid or moved the entire three days.

The second day they had called a doctor, who couldn't find a reason for the boy's raging temperature. His advice was to keep the fever down as best as they could.

_Crash_

A shattering sound from the kitchen caused Shigeru to jump up from his seat and head over to his wife to help clean up. As he bent down beside her he noticed her moist cheeks.

"Touko…" He murmured, putting a hand on her shoulders.

She attempted a weak smile but it fell apart again as she glanced down to the glass upon the floor.

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><p>Madara counted himself as a patient ayakashi, after all he put up with all of Natsume's hair-brained schemes, and reckless behavior. But this was becoming annoying or at the very least unsettling. There was something wrong with the boy, he had been unconscious for a total of three days and two nights, dead to the world. It was odd, usually when the boy had fevers he muttered and tossed around in his sleep but Natsume hadn't made a sound during his three standstill.<p>

In fact Natsume smelled a bit differently than usual, a subtle bitter twang to his normally sweet scent. It wasn't the smell of that shadow youkai, maybe it was the stench of sickness? It puzzled him…

While sitting and waiting for Natsume to wake up Madara realized something. Natsume seemed to make time pass slowly, the past three days felt like years, an incredible feat for a long-living youkai.

Natsume's friends had stopped by- first the Tanuma boy, then he came back with the female who loved to suffocate him- Taki, then the clueless humans paid a visit- Nishimura and Kitamoto. All of them seemed worried. They brought over Natsume's homework, the class president even sent over his notes apparently (something about all of Natsume's friends being incompetent note-takers). Of course Tanuma and Taki had asked if it was a youkai affecting Natsume but it was unlikely because Madara hadn't sensed any strange ayakashi presences. It seemed just to be a dangerously high fever… then again this was Natsume.

Throughout the rest of the day Madara lay at Natsume's side in his lucky cat form, unwilling to leave the helpless boy and the book of friends unguarded for once.

Soon it was approaching dusk. Touko and Shigeru fluttered in and out a couple of times worriedly- smoothing the blankets, checking Natsume's fever, leaving some medicines, and half-seriously telling "Nyangoro" or "Nyankichi" to watch over the boy.

The creaking of a window awoke Madara from his doze but it was only Hinoe slipping in, puffing on her pipe. She frowned, glancing in the direction of Natsume's still form.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He has a fever." Madara grunted.

"Hmm." Hinoe hummed, "I heard you had a run in with Kurai. Nasty one, wasn't he?"

Madara nodded, snorting-

"One of the stronger brats Reiko got… Say Hinoe, could you check him over for a curse, he hasn't woken up in three days. What a troublesome weakling…" Madara grumbled.

"Of course I'll check, just because you're so worried. You really should keep a better eye on him, you're his supposed to be his bodyguard." She smirked.

The smirk disappeared as quickly as it came while Hinoe turned toward Natsume. She quickly looked him over and cast a simple searching spell.

"I don't sense any curse but there seems to be something strange about him… he smells funny." Hinoe wrinkled her nose.

"Well I could've told you that!" Madara huffed.

Hinoe glanced back at Natsume-

"Well I might have something that could wake him up."

She reached into her deep pockets and drew out a small drawstring bag. Out of it she took a few red berries and crushed them between her fingers to make a paste, then knelt and began drawing some scribbles on Natsume's forehead.

Madara sat back to observe, ears twitching back and forth.

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><p>Everything hurt. From the joints of his fingers to the pounding of his head, spreading a pulsing ache throughout his body. Natsume felt heavy, oh so very heavy. Everything was too hot, then too cold. He couldn't make sense of the mess in his head, so everything stayed at a safe distance, a hazy life hanging stubbornly at the edges of Natsume's sub consciousness. A dizzying array of faces passing in and out- a foster parent here, an uncle there, then children crying for parents long gone*, and several taunting faces that mocked him, those seemed to make up the majority of faces…<p>

The faces smeared, so many people in and out of his life. Even though the world could fit so many different people, it seemed to discriminate against the differences of some select few.

Too many people to remember, but a few stood out- his new friends, Tanuma, Nishimura, Taki, Kitamoto, Natori and of course Touko and Shigeru-san. They seemed like faraway stars that would be impossible to reach for Natsume.

A sudden harsh light flashed on, a screaming wakeup call that drew Natsume, unwillingly to the surface of his mind that he had tried so hard to avoid. The pain came alive and harshened the awareness. Natsume could hear breathing, and a muffled- "Natsume."

So Natsume's heavy eyelids lifted to reveal liquid amber eyes to Madara and Hinoe.

Natsume waited for the light to flood in and the faces of his visitors, to come into focus.

They didn't.

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><p><strong>*The children crying for parents long gone part is referring to the short amount of time Natsume was in an orphanage, I'm really curious about that short amount of time he spent in there, You'd think it would be pretty damaging to him… Hmm, anyway, please review!<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the wait, school decided to dump all sorts of homework on me and this chap. had me second guessing myself ( I hope its ok). Thank you for all the favorites and alert and I'll try to get the next chapter out much quicker! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Natsume Yuujinchou **

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><p><span>Chapter 3<span>

Natsume blinked once, he blinked twice, then he held his fingers up to his eyelids and blinked again, just to make sure they were moving.

The world had become a sea of black.

_Where is everyone… where's the color and light? _Natsume panicked.

"Natsume?" A voice rang out.

It was Sensei's voice calling out from the blackness, from someplace beyond Natsume's reach. Sensei was in the room though… so someone was out there in the sea.

"Sensei, I… I can't see." Natsume whispered hoarsely.

Movement, and fabric shuffling was heard.

"What do you mean, can't see what?" A muted voice asked- Hinoe.

Natsume reached out a hand, feeling for something, anything, not knowing what to say.

"Where are you?"

Footsteps approached, soft cat footsteps.

"You can't see Hinoe?" Sensei questioned, his voice came out cold sounding.

A pounding made itself known in Natsume's head, loud and heavy, maybe a heartbeat, probably his.

No Natsume couldn't see Hinoe… he couldn't even see his own hands!

There was something soft under Natsume, spreading fingertips out he also felt something cold and hard. _A floor, it was the floor!_

Hands scrabbled against the solid surface, wobbly feet followed as Natsume pushed his body up, but a heavy blankness spread through his head and he almost collapsed back down again but shaking limbs pushed him back up.

A cloud was blocking his mind, everything was tipping and spinning, this way and that, and everything was dark. The pounding increased, a desperate feeling twisted in his gut.

_This isn't real!_

Natsume could feel his body moving but his mind felt cut off from his movements. He could sense his arms swinging wildly, hear his toenails scraping against the floor, but the rest of the world was blank, it came to being as he came in contact with it. A wall here, a dresser there, then a door, _a door!_

Fingers groped along the frame till he found an edge to slide it open into narrow black space. Another wall came into existence, and a pain in Natsume's foot, then his face was meeting the floor painfully, the shock running through his forehead and knees.

Was this punishment? For wanting to keep a foot in both worlds? Unable to see humans or ayakashi… impossible!

Natsume tasted a warm saltiness and realized the bitter liquid was seeping from his eyes… he was crying.

"Takashi? Takashi is that you? Are you awake?" Frantic calls rang out.

It was Touko-san and Shigeru. They couldn't see him like this, what would they think?

So once again Natsume's tired limbs pushed him off the ground and his heart continued pumping hot panic, he was running wildly without prefect. The strange darkness didn't make sense. Left, right, straight back, they were all dizzying steps, judged by hazy facts that led on through the black. Somehow Natsume's hands found the door and he pushed it open.

"Takashi! What's going on? What's wrong? Takashi!" Touko-san called out.

"Where are you going, you have a high fever!" Shigeru shouted from behind.

The shouting barely registered in the blackness that had suddenly just gotten impossibly larger. There was grass under his bare feet. A string in his hand- perhaps a clothes line? Rough, criss-cross texture under his palms- maybe some tree bark.

Natsume's feet kept moving and his hands continued fumbling blindly in front of him. It was cold, the wind was cold. Was it even wind? It could be air stirred up from some running or flying youkai. Maybe it would grab him. Maybe something would eat him… So Natsume had to keep running, he had to, or they would get him, if not them then maybe the black nothingness would smother him instead.

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><p><strong>So short I know, sorry but next chapter Tanuma and Taki (and some of Natsume's other friends) will make an appearance. <strong>**Please**** review, it's greatly appreciated! Creative criticism is all good too. **


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